


Why Blanca Deserves Nothing

by Slytherin_Scribe



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Banana Fish Anime Spoilers, Banana Fish Manga Spoilers, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Fueled by rage, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I can do this but not my homework, I'm Bad At Summaries, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Meta, and really caffeinated tea, beta tested I die afraid of a horrific typo that changes the whole meaning of everything, blanca is held accountable for his actions and inaction, nothing more graphic then you can expect from an manifesto discussing Ash's childhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29743197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherin_Scribe/pseuds/Slytherin_Scribe
Summary: Why Blanca Deserves NothingA Manifesto By Amara, A Person of Taste, Malice and Meticulous Researching SkillAre you or a loved one suffering from Blanca Stan? This work has been product tested by two beta readers, who are now reformed Blanca stans. This is my manifesto! I wrote it in a fit of rage after reading private opinion, and it goes into why I think that Blanca was not redeemed/did not deserve redemption.This chronicle will include mentions of sexual assault and physical violence, as well as huge spoilers for Banana Fish; please read with discretion(my brain told me I was using that word wrong so I looked it up and I was right btw).
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 28
Kudos: 37





	Why Blanca Deserves Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first work on this lovely site, though I've been on here for years. I was originally worried Ao3's policies wouldn't permit whatever this is but I looked and they did. Hopefully actually posting on here gives me the confidence to post some fanfic.

Why Blanca Deserves Nothing  
A Manifesto By Amara, A Person of Taste, Malice and Meticulous Researching Skill

In summary, Blanca clearly shows a moral compass, meaning he understands right and wrong, yet, for the five years the audience sees him, he consistently takes immoral actions. He has the potential to choose good and chooses evil again and again. It is tempting to excuse his earlier actions and deem him a ‘good person’ or a hero; however, this chronicle shall show he was not redeemed as a character and did not deserve redemption. His unconditional loyalty to those who purchase his services is unacceptable. Blanca is one of the few characters that keeps agency over his situation for the entire narrative, yet he remains passive in the face of repulsive atrocities. This chronicle will not discuss his various immoral actions before the events of the Private Opinion flashbacks. 

This chronicle will include mentions of sexual assault and physical violence, as well as huge spoilers for Banana Fish; please read with discretion.

Before beginning this chronicle, some of Blancas’s skills are as follows. As quoted from his fandom wiki article, Blanca is “An expert in the arts of assassination, firearms, close combats and anything associated with the profession…multiple forms of torture designed not to kill...his skill is such that Ash admits he could not defeat Blanca…he can shoot far beyond the range of an average sniper...despite unfavorable conditions,”. He also has a degree in both psychology and psychiatry. Based on his expensive attire and the canonical backstory of having taken spying and assassination gigs for years, as well as his ability to comfortably retire to the Caribbean, I am concluding that he has significant monetary resources at his disposal. Based on his ability to stay alive and have a peaceful existence in the Caribbean despite being a famous and in-demand assassin, I am concluding he has/had the resources to disappear with little a trace.

The chronicle of Blanca’s failings begins...

That time he enabled a sex trafficking ring.

-> In the short canonical manga Private Opinion, Blanca watches an interaction between Ash Lynx and Eiji Okumura and reflects on his time tutoring Ash. Ash was fourteen at the time of this flashback.

-> Firstly, Blanca willingly took a job from a known sex trafficker, Dino. Based on the previous points, I can reasonably conclude that he did not have a pertinent financial need causing him to take a job that would necessitate his hallmark unconditional loyalty to a child predator.

-> In the short manga Private Opinion, upon seeing that Ash Lynx was raped, Blanca remarks, and I quote directly, “Oh no, that’s bad!” proving the presence of this all-important moral compass. Unfortunately, a few pages later, Blanca says, “He might revolt against you,” to Dino, one of Ash’s abusers and the head of this sex trafficking ring. He then continues to warn Dino about the danger that Ash may one day become his greatest adversary and advises him to prepare for this possibility. It is important to note that Dino had simply asked for his opinion on Ash, not advice on properly controlling an abused child. This was an unnecessary immoral act from Blanca, and these quotes sum up his attitude towards life as a whole. To Blanca, bad things are bad but not quite nauseating enough to provoke meaningful action.

-> For the purpose of fairness in this account, I will note that Blanca hugged Ash and broke one of the wrists of one of his abusers’. These are morally correct actions! Some may even define them as below the bare minimum one could expect from a man with the skills I’ve noted in paragraph two.

-> Furthermore, still in Private Opinion, Blanca wonders what Ash would be like if “...he was given love instead of fear and could rely on someone who wouldn’t abuse him…” He follows up this thought by saying, “Ah no, it’s useless to think about. He hasn’t had and won’t ever have [love and trust]”. It is unfortunate that Blanca lacks the motivation to take on this task or the wherewithal to stop prying and allow Ash to experience this with Eiji. He decides the best course of action is to teach him everything he knows, or in other words, to do his job. The job offered to him by Dino, a sex trafficker.

-> The events of Private Opinion caused Ash to develop a high opinion of Blanca, having great respect for his advice. This is because of the perceived kindness shown to him by Blanca, which was incredibly rare in his life at the time. However, while Blanca certainly may have wanted to be “kind” on his own merits, his unconditional loyalty to his employer, Dino the sex trafficker, would have resulted in him being less than kind if speaking civilly to Ash did not yield results. Even with Blanca being at his “kindest” during this time, there is still one moment that solidifies my point.  
In Private Opinion, during one of his early conversations with Ash, as he attempts to size him up, he grabs Ash’s upper arm in a way I would describe as brutal, and then clinically dissects Ash’s response (Unadulterated terror, if the reader is interested, though Blanca’s analysis involved terms such as “excessive anxiety” and “difficulty breathing”). He then gives the excuse that there was a mosquito on Ash’s arm, though the positioning of his hand, the strength of his grip, him previously noticing Ash was “quite nervous”, his statement just before the grab regarding 'Dino telling Ash to come to Blanca’s house for Blanca’s sake', and the fact that there was no visible mosquito in any frame makes this extremely improbable. It’s highly probable that he purposely made Ash uncomfortable and frightened before grabbing his arm to gain maximum insight from Ash’s response. 

-> This underscores the point that he behaves in less than kind ways if he feels it’s necessary to his job, which was to give an opinion on Ash. To Blanca, getting data on how Ash reacts to unwanted physical contact and intense stress is more critical than Ash’s comfort. His “kindness” is fabricated, or at least conditional. Even granting him gratuitous amounts of the benefit of the doubt and assuming there was a mosquito and none of this was purposeful, Ash has already stated he doesn’t like people touching him and already told Blanca specifically not to touch him. But let’s again grant Blanca gratuitous slack and say he did not internalize these statements. Now that he’s observed the reaction firsthand, he has excessive confirmation that Ash does not like being grabbed without warning and won’t do it again, right?

-> A few days later, Blanca discovers Ash tied to a bed after being sexually assaulted. His entrance into the room prompts Ash to have a panic attack. His response is to approach the bed and grab Ash again, before untying his bonds. 

-> As someone who suffers from panic attacks, I will factually state that you should never touch someone having a panic attack without asking first. It can intensify and prolong the attack, and it was a terrible choice on Blanca’s part. His education means that he had training on how to handle a panic attack, but even if he’s miraculously forgotten, he still has extensive knowledge on how Ash responds to people grabbing him when moderately calm, so he should not have done it while Ash was in a state of extreme distress, especially considering Ash’s history involving assault, of which Blanca was aware. While this decision was made from a place of emotional concern, I expect more from a man with a degree in both psychology and psychiatry. 

-> It’s ridiculously lucky that this technique worked out. Blanca was able to stop the panic attack by reassuring Ash that he had no intention of hurting him. Ash eventually relaxed into his grip, and they embraced before Blanca untied him and removed him from the premises. While this scene was actually one of Blanca’s best moments in the entire series, the frames of Ash frantically trying to extricate himself from Blanca’s grip were upsetting and warranted mention.

-> Now, judging by my first notes on Blanca’s skills, he is capable of various acts regarding this whole situation, which he so eloquently described as “bad”. His sharpshooting skills would have allowed him to assassinate Dino and escape the premises unharmed. In Private Opinion, we see he did have a pistol on his person. His retirement after this shows that he no longer needed a prestigious reputation regarding loyalty to clients, as he did not intend to take any more jobs. It is also plausible that he could have safely removed Ash from the premises and used his monetary resources to hide them, utilizing his unrivaled assassination skills to kill anyone that came after them. He could have used his various contacts to order a hit on Dino indirectly, tip off the FBI, or compile evidence of the sex trafficking ring and release it to the media. Blanca did not do any of these things. Instead, the one person with the power, means, and moral compass to help Ash retired and left for the Caribbean after completing his job from Dino. He stayed there for four years.

-> So from the time Donald Trump was elected to when he was ousted from office, Blanca sat on a beach and drank Pina Coladas, thinking about how sad it was that monsters like him couldn’t escape their fate. Think of every action you have taken from fifth grade to ninth(given that it was your middle school years, I imagine there is plenty that remains unfortunately vivid). While you were doing that, Blanca had four years to change his mind and take any action regarding a sex trafficking ring. He did not.

-> Regardless of the story’s needs, the fact remains that he took these shockingly immoral actions. But this inaction is only one of his many failings. If he’d stayed in the Caribbean, he would have just been one of many to fail Ash through complicit and enabling behaviors. Blanca, unfortunately, did not merely do this.

-> An additional notation: during the events of Private Opinion, Blanca remarks that Ash looked so happy to be with Eiji that he was nearly rendered unrecognizable. This did not prove significant motivation for him to return to the Caribbean and mind his own business, nor for him to keep his unasked for opinions private later on. 

-> In fact, his unwarranted judgments are a consistent theme throughout Private Opinion. I will draw the reader's attention to a disdainful comment about Ash lounging around all day, seemingly made a few hours after seeing Ash recovering from sexual assault by a tutor. It’s also worth noting he was also aware of the sexual and physical abuse of Ash by Dino when he made this comment. Taking into account his degrees in psychology and psychiatry, I’m confused as to how he appears to have no knowledge of coping mechanisms.

-> Furthermore, it’s canonical that Ash was sent to reform school for committing homicide at age fourteen, where he was sexually assaulted. Dino made no efforts to remove Ash from reform school because he wanted to punish him. Blanca was tutoring Ash around this time. If he was there, I’m very curious as to what he was doing, because it wasn’t visiting Ash or making attempts to free him.

Before I begin the next part of this account, for the purposes of fairness in this narrative, I will note that Blanca eventually offered his services to Ash, after which he(eventually, after knocking Ash out and refusing to allow him to see Eiji) drove him to the hospital to see Eiji, shot down a threatening helicopter, and was invaluable in the final standoff against Dino. Now, onto the other time he enabled a sex trafficking ring.

-> I’ll begin with the obvious. After four years of inaction, Blanca disregarded both his moral compass and his retirement and took another job from Dino, a known sex trafficker. His unconditional loyalty to his employer, combined with his skills, enable Dino’s sadistic power games throughout the entire series.

-> In episode 18, Islands in the Stream, Blanca reveals Ash’s hideout to Dino. Blanca then shoots Eiji in the shoulder. His agreement to target Eiji was made with full intent to force Ash to return to Dino, who sexually abused Ash for years. After Ash agrees to do so and requests to punch Blanca in the face before leaving, Blanca beats him up in the warehouse scene in another unnecessary act of cruelty, in front of Dino and Yut Lung. Then, despite seeing the extent to which Ash goes to protect Eiji as well as hearing Ash’s pleas to leave Eiji alone, he refuses to stop targeting Eiji. Instead, he says, “I must follow the role I’ve been given...I’ll pray for you,”

-> It is, frankly, unclear why Blanca feels he has no agency over his situation. He is one of the most powerful characters in this series. He willingly took on this job, and once it ended, proceeded to take a job with another one of Ash’s adversaries, Yut Lung. Hold him accountable for his inaction.

-> I’ll now compare the way two of Ash’s father figures spoke to him about his past. While Max burned an envelope of photos that could have been helpful to the investigation and told Ash that the abuse he suffered was over and he should do his best to move on, Blanca had this wisdom to offer “You should go back to the monsieur,” 

-> Dearest reader, must I explain why a smart and powerful adult telling a survivor of sexual abuse, one that has enormous respect for him, to get over it and heel to the very person responsible for that abuse is immoral? Must I explain why being the muscle to a serial predator's threats, backing up his words that Ash “Will suffer things no other prostitute could bear,” is immoral?

That time he projected his Big Sad about his dead wife onto a traumatized teenager.

-> I include the full quotation for the purposes of fairness in this account; it was one of Blanca’s best moments. “You must not take Eiji Okumura away from Ash. It would only make another one of us. Unloving, unloved. A sad being living only on hatred and emptiness...Rather than hate and be triumphant, Ash chose to love and be destroyed. He staked his life on that choice. Please try to accept it,”

-> I’m now going to quote a fan-written essay that dissects the problems of Blanca’s relationship with Yut Lung (all emphasis mine) “...Blanca fails Yut Lung; he stands by while Yut [Lung] carries out his plans even though they nearly get him killed...awkwardly stands there while Yut [Lung] has a drunken nervous breakdown...worst of all, Blanca unintentionally feeds into the teen’s insecurities and negative thought patterns. “It would only make another one of us. Unloving, unloved,” he states. Well-intentioned or not, Yut [Lung] just hears that he is not only unloved, but Blanca sees him as unlovable. This is why he gets angry when Blanca says, “There will be someone who will care for you and love you. You just don’t realize it.” Since this is being said by a man who is preparing to walk out on Yut Lung, this makes Blanca’s words seem like empty promises. The irony is after this, Yut Lung directs Blanca to Ash’s location so he can get there in time. This proves Blanca wrong as Yut Lung’s aid has no hidden agenda for once...He simply cares about Blanca and helps him the only way he can. While some might argue Blanca did help Yut by telling Sing his past...dumping a teenagers psychological problems on the shoulders of another teenager and heading back to the Caribbean hoping the two of them don’t destroy each other is not helpful,” - Yut Lung, The Boy Who Wanted to Burn It All Down. 

-> These are some abysmal choices considering Blanca has a degree in psychology and psychiatry.

That other time he projected his Big Sad about his dead wife onto a traumatized teenager (this time, it helped cause the teenager’s death!). 

-> First, an interesting aside: During the events of Banana Fish, Ash mentions that when he was fourteen, he believed himself to be in love with a girl Dino’s men later killed because Dino thought they were a couple. Excluding the fact that during this time, it’s probable that Blanca was still tutoring Ash and did nothing to stop this, I find it interesting to note that Ash lost someone he loved(and at a very young age), just like Blanca. However, despite this, Ash does not offer unwarranted and violent criticism of anyone’s romantic pursuits, nor does he tell children they are monsters, nor does he turn his back on evil and hide in the Caribbean for four years, nor does he relinquish all sense of agency and turn into an unfeeling monster. Blanca losing his wife does not justify his abhorrent actions.

-> “A rabbit and a lynx can never be friends,”-Blanca to Ash after beating him up. Blanca may have driven Ash to see Eiji in the hospital, but he never recounted this statement (among others), and Ash took his advice to heart. Some of the character development Blanca gets in regards to his views on Ash and Eiji’s relationship could have been helpful for Ash to hear. Unfortunately, Blanca chose to keep these new opinions private.

-> “He does not exist for your salvation,” Another brutal quotation from Blanca. This is a nonstarter. While it is factually accurate that Eiji does not exist for Ash’s salvation, Ash does not see Eiji as someone whose purpose is to preserve him or deliver him from harm, ruin, or loss (the dictionary definition of salvation). Furthermore, Eiji has agency in his situation. His relationship with Ash is based on mutual respect and love, both characters risking their lives to protect each other. Blanca’s words imply that Ash is a burden on Eiji, which is not true. Blanca is reaffirming Ash’s unhealthy belief that he, a victim of horrific abuse, is undeserving of someone who not only makes him happy but someone who has stated numerous times that they are determined to remain by Ash’s side. Eiji is not being forced into a relationship with Ash; he is a willing participant, a person with feelings and goals, and Blanca reducing him to a mere “salvation” is not acceptable.

-> We see Blanca’s feelings reflected in Ash’s words near the end of episode 24, The Catcher in the Rye, when he says in the presence of Blanca, “I don’t bring him anything but danger. I’m the kind of person who he needs to stay away from. I get it now...I’ll never see him again,” In response, now five years too late, Blanca invites Ash to come with him to the Caribbean, then promptly rescinds his invitation. He says this instead of refuting Ash’s words, perhaps telling him that he is not selfish or wrong to want love and affection, that he, in fact, deserves love and affection, and that he is in no way a burden on Eiji. He non verbally signals his agreement with Ash, helping to seal Ash’s fate. 

-> Sometime in the five to twelve years that Blanca studied psychology, or perhaps in the four to eight years he studied psychiatry, he learned about the mental effects of abuse and trauma, including the tendency for abuse victims to blame themselves. This is one of the very tendencies he exploits with Ash. This is not merely good intentions gone awry.

-> It’s canonical that Ash viewed the stabbing as a sign from God that he and Eiji were not destined to be together, which was partly the reason he did not seek help and instead quietly died in the library. Blanca fostered this belief.

-> It is ironically fitting that in Blanca’s last moments with Ash, he brought the theme of their relationship to its dreadful fruition: Blanca’s complicity as Ash faces great danger.  
As you consider my painstaking work, I pose one question. Ash’s opinion of Blanca is flawed and unhealthy, and the amount of respect he continues to have for Blanca is sad. But I ask you to consider if Eiji could read this narrative’s facts, what would he say? What would he think of Blanca’s years of inaction, followed by his devastating return in which he told Ash that he would only bring Eiji harm without considering Eiji’s feelings on the matter?

-> Blanca failed to take action regarding the repulsive abuse of children for years, willingly took work from child predators, told two victims of abuse that they were either not loved or undeserving of it, and consistently failed to do the bare minimum despite education and talents perfectly suited for the situations outlined here. Blanca is not deserving of praise just because he can distinguish right from wrong. He has never been a hero, only a passive mercenary, and I would argue that he lost all chance of redemption sometime between day one and day one thousand four hundred and sixty somewhere in the Caribbean.

So, to conclude, in Blanca’s own words, “Oh no, that’s bad!”(*drops mike*).

A few comments:  
In some quotations, I’ve included brackets. Anything within these brackets was not said in the original quotation, but I’m including it for the purposes of clarity. For example, it’s impossible for the reader to be exactly sure what Blanca meant by “hasn’t had and won’t ever have,”, but from the rest of the quotation it’s possible to infer what he was referring to, so I included the most likely meaning to avoid confusion.  
Authors thanks to user @sparkle 94 (acpendra) on Ao3 for their wonderful essay on Yut Lung, as well as Tumblr user @be-papa for a post reply that helped clarify exactly why I found Blanca’s character so infuriating, which enabled me to articulate his issues in this essay. Special thanks to Tumblr user @eijispumpkin for validating my rage against Blanca, I likely would never have read Private Opinion and been sent into the rage that motivated me to write this. And lastly, thank you to my two lovely beta readers, reformed Blanca stans who are more redeemed then he ever will be💜💜💜.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow if you've gotten here thanks for reading, I'm more posting this to scream into the void so. Do you disagree, agree, have I gotten something horribly wrong, do you wish to provide me with external validation of my detestation of Blanca? If so drop a comment! Oh, and I've cross posted this on Tumblr! This is so exciting get to write in the end notes when I've read so many, though I now feel the need to drop some strange event in my life offhandedly. Anyway ily have a good day and get some sleep drink some water do self care in spite of Blanca
> 
> *ok wow it's posted and that was terrifying I have even more respect for all of you who post fanfic on here also. If you have written a fix it or hurt/comfort banana fish fanfic you helped heal my soul at three am and I adore you
> 
> **Also omg people in the comments have super cool complex takes to so if after reading my ramble you are interested in Why Blanca Did And Didn't Do This Shit check them out anyway I love all of you and I hope it's never cloudy when you want to look at the moon and that your blankets are always super comfy


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